Church As Sanctuary
Lutherans House Asylum-seekers | Republicans "Ship" Them For Political Points
Recently I was talking with Pastor Heidi Torgerson, a colleague in Chicago. I learned 52 Venezuelan refugees are sheltering in an ELCA church across the street from her house. She’s been intensely involved in both the emergency response and the move to transitional housing with the new neighbors.
I had heard hints about this situation from other colleagues and friends in Chicago, but I don’t think I knew the extent of it, and I definitely haven’t heard it covered in any news contexts.
There are now a total of about 180 refugees in Oak Park. (Oak Park is about 5 miles square with a population of about 55k. The village borders the city of Chicago to the west)
Close to 20,000 refugees/asylum seekers have been shipped to Chicago since 2022, mostly from Texas & Florida. Chicago declared itself a sanctuary city some years ago, and the immigrant-abusing governors from TX and FL have politicized migrants as a way to push a more conservative approach to immigration.
City police stations have rotating groups of about 200 people sheltering on floors and in donated tents lining the sidewalks in front of the stations.
One of those police stations is less than a mile from Oak Park. Heidi reports a group of OP residents have been providing whatever material support they can.
I was pleased to learn from Heidi they are receiving tremendous outside support from churches, community groups, and neighbors. (even including literal neighbors...for example, when the 52 folks were still at the church across the street, Heidi organized neighbors in walking distance and they opened their homes so that people could shower and do laundry.)
Small teams are working to streamline and coordinate the many donations and volunteer roles that are currently holding all of it together. They're also trying to wrap specific village board members in support as they take heat from some (small but vocal) sectors of the community. Folks are all in transitional housing for another 23 days or so, which means the many children there can begin school as early as next week. It also gives a little buffer for the village to build out some more infrastructure, which is the most significant need long-term.
As Heidi says, this wasn't a thing anybody had planned for.
A number of ELCA churches in the city are housing migrant families long-term. Luther Memorial has had 22 people living at their church for the last six months. They converted Sunday School classrooms into private family rooms and made a community space out of an old conference room. They're doing some great organizing, along with a number of other churches in the city.
If you need a story of why I believe modern Republicanism is anathema and morally destitute, this is such a story.
If you need a story of how the ELCA is actually becoming what it voted to become when it declared itself a sanctuary denomination back in 2019.
I’m so proud of my colleagues. I’m so sorry families have been displaced like this for political gain. I’m thankful they have caring neighbors to welcome them.
As Heidi says, “It's terrible. It's beautiful.”
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Thank you to United Lutheran Church and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, the ELCA congregations in Oak Park who opened their doors to our new neighbors. Pastor Ole Schenk and Pastor Kathy Nolte pastor these two congregations. Thank you also to Heidi’s congregation, Grace Lutheran in LaGrange. Through Heidi’s leadership, teams of people shopped for many specific, urgent items that weren’t covered by general donations (think: shoes in specific sizes, including ones small enough for a 2-year-old; nursing tank tops for a breastfeeding mother; foot powder and creams for people whose feet are healing from the migrant journey, etc.)
How to handle people who come into the US has been a problem that has not been adequately addressed by the Federal government, regardless of the party in power. There is plenty of political cynicism to go around on all sides. Passing feel-good resolutions and declaring one's city a sanctuary city is all well and good, until one has to put those pretty thoughts into action. My mother and I came to this country under the Lutheran Refugee program, and were sponsored by the church we have attended since. Where did such programs went off the rails, both in the private and the public sectors? Only the Federal government can correct this problem, not churches or localities.
It’s so uplifting to hear stories like this and I hope there are many more just like it that we never hear about. God bless all those caring Pastors and people who have welcomed those people looking for a better life.